CH.FILM

Operation Casablanca Canada, France, Switzerland 2011 – 88min.

Movie Rating

Opération Casablanca

Movie Rating: Constantin Xenakis

Comedy in which a Moroccan working under the table is taken for an Islamic terrorist by Geneva's police.

A Moroccan named Saadi who works under the table quits his job as a dishwasher when his boss locks him into the restaurant's freezer to hide him from inspectors. Later arrested by the police who mistake him for an Islamic extremist sought worldwide, Saadi finds himself mixed up in the kidnapping of the UN Secretary General, for whom he is exchanged. He then ends up with two Islamists who are both stupid & dangerous and threatening to blow everything up - and Saadi has to make them believe he's a bigwig in international terrorism...

Opération Casablanca gives a little shine back to Swiss cinema, which has been stagnating somewhat lately. The filmmakers seem to have understood that comedy is the way back to health when there is no support of Bern's Office of Culture, which apparently prefers giving money to depressing documentaries or endless overblown fiction films critical of Switzerland's politics or the banking system. Luckily there's none of that in the very charming Opération Casablanca, which succeeds in making the audience laugh – often out loud – by taking on a delicate subject like Islamist terrorism. Swiss cinema, humble and entertaining, 1000 times better than the pretentious drivel produced by the likes of Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke or Pedro Almodovar.

19.02.2021

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